An Unexpected Epiphany
by TheWhiteW0lf
Summary: Oliver makes a much different decision at the end of "My Name Is Oliver Queen" and decides to stay home and be with what's left of his family.


Oliver had packed his bags and decided before picking Felicity up, and leaving Starling, probably for good, was to say goodbye to his baby sister. He knew that she would be alright, she's a fighter, and if worse came to worse, Laurel would look after her. He could depend on his oldest friend to look after the last of his family.

Oliver exited the elevator and slowly walked towards the apartment he had visited so many times in the past three years. Once he made it to the door, he knocked on Laurel's door.

After a few long seconds, the door swung open, with Laurel looking at him with a confused look on her face. "I thought that you and Felicity would already be on a flight to Bali, or Tahiti?"

Oliver fidgeted slightly, "Actually, I'm about to pick her up, then we can head out… I just came to say goodbye to Speedy."

Laurel looked over her shoulder as if to seek permission before stepping away and walking towards the kitchen. Oliver closed the door behind him to see Thea with a blanket around her and a tub of ice cream on the coffee table in front of her. "Speedy?" He said as she walked towards the living room, leaving his luggage by the door.

His sister turned her head quickly towards the sound of his voice, "Ol… Ollie? I thought you left?"

He felt his chest tighten; How could she even think he wouldn't say goodbye? "I could never leave without saying goodbye," he said, before adding, "You know, that right?" with slight trepidation lining his voice.

When she didn't answer, he felt like his mother and father were looking down at him with disappointment. For all their faults, they had let nothing happen to them. Family had always come first. And despite willing to give up his life as Oliver Queen, for his sister to live, he fell short of ensuring that his baby sister was alright, that she wasn't suffering any side effects of the pit. He could only imagine the nightmares she must be enduring.

"Thea?"

She looked up from her hands, her eyes bloodshot. "I know that you don't want to be The Hood anymore… but do you need to leave Starling… leave me?"

She was right. Did he truly have to leave Starling in order to move on from being under the hood? It wasn't fair that he was leaving her; they were the last of their family, and he was going to abandon her for a selfish reason. What kind of brother would abandon his sister?

Who says that he couldn't take a break here in Starling? How long had it been since he had been able to enjoy the city without his crusade getting in the way? Besides, he could always take a vacation away from Starling some other time.

He heard the floorboards creak, as Laurel tried to sneak past the living room and head towards her office, apparently, Thea heard the same, and called out to her, "Where are you going, I thought we were going to watch the Wizard of Oz?"

Laurel stopped and looked over at the siblings, with a coffee mug in her hand. "I—I'm going to go over some depositions for work."

Thea shook her head. "Thought you were taking a few weeks' vacation?" She looked at Laurel with a look of pleading.

Oliver turned back to Laurel, "You took a few weeks off from work? Can the city cope without the Assistant District Attorney for a couple of weeks?"

Laurel gave Thea a look he couldn't decipher, before making her way into the living room and sitting on a one-seater sofa, "The city can wait, Thea comes first, besides… we are still going out in the field with John of a night."

_'Thea comes first,'_ Laurel's voice echoed in the back of his mind.

Laurel was giving up her work, putting her life on hold to look after his own sister. She had no obligation to do so, but that was who Laurel was, and he had taken advantage of her gentle heart, in favor of what? A life away from his friends and family?

It felt like a slap in the face that Laurel had put everything aside, on halt for Thea without being asked, and that she had tried to keep it a secret from him. He had lied to both women, going so far as to pretend to be indoctrinated by Ra's and fighting them.

Had he truly burned those bridges, as he had with John?

He confessed to Diggle earlier this year that he didn't want to die alone.

Perhaps he was going the wrong way about it?

His family, his real family, were in the room with him. He already had roots in this city, Thea was here, and so was Laurel. A person who had been by his side through thick and thin. She had given him the will to survive his five years in hell, and now she was doing the same for his sister.

He looked over at the television to see the frozen black-and-white image of Dorothy clutching Toto. He walked around the couch and sat next to his sister, "Haven't watched this movie in years." He said as he took the remote from his sister's hand and pressed play, he started watching the film.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his sister and Laurel look at each other in confusion, before he felt his sister lean against his shoulder, "You don't have to do this, Ollie… I'll be alright."

He shook his head, and he wrapped an arm around his sister and looked at Laurel who was pretending to be engrossed in the film, "No, I do. I'm home."

He felt his baby sister smile. "What about Felicity? Don't you have a plane to catch?"

"I'll speak to her soon, right now, my sister needs her brother, and _family_ comes first." He said glancing at Laurel and seeing her give him a proud look that made him adamant that his decision to stay was the right one.

After the movie finished, and he had carried his sister to her bed, he watched as Laurel picked up the empty ice cream tubs, and wrappers from other foods, he walked up to the coffee table, picking up the spoons and glasses, and followed Laurel into the kitchen.

"Ollie, you don't have to clean up, you're the guest." She protested.

He shrugged as he started filling the sink with hot water. "I want to." He said he then looked over his shoulder to see Laurel finish throwing away. "I want to thank you, Laurel. For volunteering to be there for my sister, when I couldn't—or wouldn't." He said as he tried to keep his eyes on her rather than at his feet.

Laurel looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "Ollie, you and Speedy are family. For better or worse, we look after one another."

Oliver looked down at his watch to see that he should have already boarded the plane, he knew that she would be annoyed, but if Felicity didn't understand that he was ensuring that his sister was safe and healthy, then their new relationship wouldn't work. As long as he had his family, he would be alright. Laurel and Thea were his family, and nothing and no one would change that.


End file.
